When taking pictures in low-light conditions, a conventional camera can employ some or all of an increased shutter time, a high gain and an increased aperture to make the picture brighter. Increasing the shutter time directly increases the amount of light in an exposure. However, the resulting picture will blur if the camera or the subject moves during the exposure. A high gain (i.e., a high International Standards Organization (ISO) number) amplifies the picture signal after having been received by a sensor. Unfortunately, the high gain can increase the amount of noise in the picture. An increased aperture (i.e., reduce f-stop number) directly increases the amount of light in the exposure. Lenses have a maximum aperture (smallest f-stop number) and so the aperture can only be increased so far.
Two types of conventional anti-shake (sometimes called anti-blur) technologies are currently available, mechanical anti-shake and digital anti-shake/anti-blur based on an increased ISO number. The mechanical anti-shake technology moves the lens or sensor while the shutter is open to counteract camera motion. The digital anti-shake/anti-blur technology increases the ISO number while the shutter time is correspondingly reduced. Mechanical anti-shake gives much better image quality as the shutter can remain open longer, which also reduces noise. However, the mechanical anti-shake implementations use additional physical components adding to the overall expensive. It is desirable to have a technique that can achieve a better tradeoff between motion blur and image noise than the conventional techniques listed above.